THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Jeremiah: Prophet Of Judgment Followed By Blessing

Part LIII: God's Comforting Promise Of Israel's Final Physical Deliverance

(Jeremiah 30:1-11)

I. Introduction

A. When God's people face hard times, be they trials due to punishment for sin or persecution for the sake of righteousness, the Lord knows they need to be encouraged, so He provides it.

B. Right after announcing the coming Babylonian Captivity, but before its painful fulfillment, the Lord had Jeremiah predict His comforting promises of Israel's FINAL physical deliverance in Jeremiah 30:1-11.

C. We view this passage for insight and edification in our own lives (as follows):

II. God's Comforting Promise Of Israel's Final Physical Deliverance, Jeremiah 30:1-11.

A. At Jeremiah 30:1-3, God directed Jeremiah to record in a book His promises of restoring His people to His blessing after their imminent Babylonian Captivity, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1167. If we recall that Old Testament saints believed the Messianic Kingdom would arrive soon after the Babylonian Captivity, we note that these promises deal with the final physical deliverance God provides for His Hebrew people, Ibid.

B. Accordingly, Jeremiah 30:4-7 did not predict the sufferings of Judah's imminent fall to Babylon, for in verse 4, God addressed both the Northern Kingdom of Israel as well as the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and Israel had already gone into captivity beyond the time of intense suffering predicted in Jeremiah 30:5-7. Rather, Bible scholars believe that Jeremiah 30:4-7 predicts the future Great Tribulation Period, "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7b KJV) when the Hebrews would face their final great suffering before the Kingdom:

1. The time would occur when the Hebrew people would experience a cry of panic, terror and the utter, complete lack of peace, Jeremiah 30:4-5. Obviously, such a time would be one of great trouble!

2. At that time, it would seem like even men had gone into labor where only women go into labor to bear children, a time when men would suffer trauma much like women do in intense labor, Jeremiah 30:6.

3. Alas, that era, that "day" of the Lord, would be so great, a time of distress for the Hebrew descendants of Jacob, but even then the Lord would deliver His people from their distress, Jer. 30:7. This deliverance occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation Period with Christ's Second Coming, cf. Zechariah 14:1-5.

C. God's physical deliverance of the Hebrew people is then described in Jeremiah 30:8-11 (as follows):

1. In that "day of the Lord" era, God would finally and forever break the yoke of Gentile domination over the Hebrew people from off of their neck, bursting their bonds from servitude to the Gentiles when foreigners would never again make the Hebrew people their servants, Jeremiah 30:8.

2. Rather, the Hebrews will believe in Christ, and they will serve the Lord their God and be led by "David" their king whom God will raise up for them, Jeremiah 30:9. Some scholars understand this "David" to be the literally resurrected Old Testament king David, but most hold it to mean the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the ideal son of David. It is true that Old Testament king David will be raised at the start of the Millennial Kingdom along with all Old Testament saints (cf. Daniel 12:13), but since Christ gets David's throne (Luke 1:32) and He has yet to sit enthroned on David's earthly throne, the reference to "David" here means Christ just like Jesus' reference to Elijah in Matthew 17:10-12 meant John the Baptizer, Matthew 17:13.

3. Accordingly, the descendants of Jacob, God's servant, be they from the Northern Kingdom of Israel or the Southern Kingdom of Judah, were not to be dismayed, for God would save them from faraway lands and their offspring from the land of captivity, Jeremiah 30:10a.

4. The people of Jacob will return and experience quiet and ease, with no one making them afraid, v. 10b.

5. God's supportive presence would be with His people as the cause for this future bliss, and He would make an end to all of the nations among whom He had scattered them, but He would not make a full end of the Hebrew people since it had been God's plan all along to discipline them in just measure for their apostasy only to to restore them once they truly repented and believed in Him, Jeremiah 30:11.

Lesson: Looking beyond the Babylonian Captivity to the future sufferings of the Jews that would culminate in the Great Tribulation Period, God promised to deliver them from intense suffering as they turned to Him. At that final time, God would make a complete end of all of their Gentile foes and nurture His chosen people in great blessing.

Application: If God promises to give lasting, blissful deliverance to His Hebrew people when they finally fully turn to Him, may we take hope that God has a blissful end for us regarding the trials we face IF we turn to Him today!